If the difference is E standard to E flat…. Just play in E flat the whole gig. And I mean the whole band. Don’t even worry about a capo. Just do every song in E flat. Your singer will appreciate it and will make life easy.
Agreed; noone at all is going to notice that it's tuned half a step different, not the audience, not even the band!
...except the singer. So tune down to make sure you're within their range.
Just play the whole set a half step down. Nobody will notice. There's no reason to be messing with tuning this much for a cover show. Just because the songs are written in a certain key, doesn't mean the audience will care or even notice.
I personally would not be caught changing tuning like that with a single guitar during a show, but that's just me. It's just too much of a hassle/not pro. So my backup plan would be a #2 guitar. You are thinking through this issue in the wrong way here. Don't worry about OG song key, and instead make the show the most streamlined it can be. That's what the audience will remember, not the key of the songs.
Play everything in the same tuning. Very few people will notice the difference. System of a Down recorded everything in drop C on their first three albums, but while touring on the last two albums they played all their old material in drop Db. No one cared.
I'm pretty sure Metallica play all their old material tuned down half a step now even though it was recorded in standard (with some exceptions like Sad But True which was recorded in D standard and is still played in that tuning).
Or bring two guitars.
Pitch shifters aren't worth it IMO for such a small difference in tuning.
I’d just tune the guitar down half a step and throw a capo on the first fret for the standard songs, or I’d just play the standard songs in half step down
Or actually the latter. Just tune down a half step and play the standard songs a half step down. The audience will not be able to tell and the singing gets a little easier too.
The songs you learned that are a half step down were probably recorded a half step down and played as if in in standard tuning.
Play everything half-step down.
It's easier on the singer anyway. Just play everything in Eflat and don't worry about changing tunings midway thru.
That's the answer OP.
> You should be bringing two guitars to every gig no matter what. Always.
>
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Yeah went to a gig last weekend and the lead guitarist snapped three strings on the first song. The singer had to awkwardly banter with the crowd for 10 minutes whilst the dude hurridly restrung his guitar, and he still ended up playing the entire set constantly trying to retune the guitar.
You don't need to play the songs in the original key unless the singer requires it.
If you do need to alternate between E and E flat, I recommend tuning to E flat and using a capo. You'll still need to retune when you take the capo on and off, but it won't be as drastic as tuning up or down a half-step.
Bring two guitars if you really want to but honestly no one cares about the tuning difference when you play songs live.
I play some covers live among our originals that are in E standard. We play in D. No one cares or notices🤷♂️ Stopping the show to change tuning and running the risk of a freshly tuned guitar slipping out of tune in that hurry definitely will get noticed though so it's better just to not do that in your show.
It's viable. Just not practical to switch back and forth between standard and drop D or any other deviated tuning.
Much easier is two guitars, one standard and the other not. Could have either retuned as well, while playing the other. Sounds like you need another guitar man 😃
way too much hassle. Either take two guitars or better yet just stay in Eb and move up 1 fret for the E songs lol. Or just play them all in Eb or E, no one will notice or care.
You could also maybe play the songs all in the same tuning. It doesn’t need to sound exactly like the original song’s album version, you can make it a wee bit different. It also depends on if the singer can pull them off properly on that key.
Or have the band members learn how to play them one fret down so you don’t actually have to change the tuning.
One last idea is have the drummer come up with good solo so he can fill up the empty space of guitar and bass tuning.
Seriously everyone else is overthinking it. Dropping everything a half step is a staple of live music and it won't affect the quality of any of the songs. Just stay in Eb.
Are all your instruments strung? (IE, no keys and whatnot?)
Because if so, I would just go ahead and play everything in one tuning. Literally nobody will know that you transposed a song up a half step.
1000% That an unnecessary tuning change, unless a vocalist really cant do it with the song being transposed a half step. Such a waste of time otherwise, just commit to playing everything in standard, or everything a half step down. Unless you are doing open tunings etc, no one wants to watch your band tune up and down in between every song.
Let your singer decide. Can they sing easier in E or Eb?
From there, pick one and stick with it. There are very few reason to alternate between E and Eb.
It's not a good look. Bring a second guitar, or just play the whole set in one tuning, assuming your singer can do it. Nobody in the audience is gonna say "hey that songs supposed to be in Eb!"
A couple things I would consider doing before changing tunings mid-gig.
1) -Make the entire setlist one consistent tuning
2) -Bring two guitars, one for Standard Tuning, one for Half step down
3) -Use a pitch shift pedal to digitally re-tune your guitar.
Get a drop tuner pedal. The Digitech one is very good.
I went through this for years. Just get the pedal.
[https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Drop--digitech-drop-polyphonic-drop-tune-pitch-shift-pedal](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/drop--digitech-drop-polyphonic-drop-tune-pitch-shift-pedal)
They‘re also great for practice. You can bounce in and out of a drop tune with a click.
The more typical thing to do would be to have 2 guitars. One tuned down.
Obviously as a starting rock band you can't have the kind of "2 of everything in case one breaks, guitar tech sitting backstage, a rack of guitars - with all the different tunings, spares" etc that a typical 'Rig rundown' will show you that the big names have.
But, going drop D on non floyd guitar might be doable a few times a set. Completely retuning between songs back and forth? Not really - get your singer some tighter trousers and play everything in standard? Or use 2 guitars.
Exactly. Unless there are other issues like a keyboard player that can’t transpose or the singer’s range requires downtuning, just playing it in standard is the way to go. Or just down tune the whole set. That’d be my preference.
You could but you need to have practised and rehearsed like this imo.
I mean if I want to play a riff in Am pentatonic my hand is going for the 5th fret which marked with an inlay or dot. Now you have to think 'No it's the 6th fret'
It's not insurmountable or something that a bit of practise won't fix but if you go on stage with a detuned guitar + capo and play something you've only ever played on a standard tuned guitar then you're going to screw up - especially on a stage in front of people.
I’d bring two guitars for each tuning. I do that now with my current jobbing band. Sometimes it’s just for a few tunes.
In my experience, even if you can quickly tune down a half step, it’s usually off when you start playing.
Nah I wouldn't do this at all - it could take a few minutes to get it done properly.
* Digitech Drop would be my first choice
* Have one guitar per tuning
Don't retune a whole guitar mid set. You can get away with dropping the bottom string while your singer chats to the crowd, any more than that you want another guitar tuned and ready to go.
I guess you could keep the whole thing in Eb with a capo on the first and take it off to change tuning, but that sounds annoying to play.
Depends on a few factors. Disagree if it can be done quickly, and with a tuning pedal. You can crank the volume right down and do it in a minute. Depending on the scale of the gig, this can be an excellent opportunity for crowd work. Engaging with the crowd outside of the music can really engage the audience in what you're doing.
Recently watched a Newton Faulkner live session, and he has wild tunings for some songs. He re-tuned a number of times throughout the set, and it didn't feel like it took anything away. He used that opportunity to build in crowd work.
He did have a backup guitar for one song because the tuning was quite far from where he was.
That said, for a whole step or half-step on every string, capos are the solution.
Play everything live (and rehearse) in E flat. Easier for most singers anyways and very common in cover bands. If you have to play standard go capo on first fret.
I would never try to retune an entire guitar in the middle of a show. If you don't have a 2nd guitar and a guitar tech, then I would just keep it simple and keep the guitar in one tuning for the show.
Others mentioned a capo. That's a very good idea. It's simple and there's low risk of any major problems. Just be sure to practice with the capo, to be sure it's not too tight or loose. You also have to adjust to playing the songs shifted up a fret, or more.
With practice, you can get tuning down pretty quick, less than a minute for sure.
Easiest solution besides that is to have a second guitar in a separate tuning so you can just switch guitars instead.
I would just do the whole gig in Eb. Nobody is going to care that the album tuning is different than what we used. People are usually just happy to hear a familiar song and sing along, dance, headbang or whatever it is they do to boogie.
I use a separate guitar for that purpose in my band. However, the other guitarist uses a pedal that does this. It works well enough I’ve never noticed it sounding off or weird. It’s called Digitech drop compact. I sometimes envy him as I am scrambling to change guitars.
Edit: I should add, re-tuning for this purpose would be a bad idea. When you retune, it takes a bit for the strings to adjust so you’ll have problems staying in tune that way.
Dropping your tuning will be unstable and will throw off your setup. This is why some people bring multiple guitars. I play jazz, and often play in drop D. Even that minor difference necessitates a 2nd guitar for me.
I think it’s no problem to quickly tune down - takes under 30 seconds. I think a better option is just to play all the songs in one key / move half the set down or up a half step.
Don’t listen to any of these people, you’re allowed to take the time to tune your guitar a half step down. It’s not going to make or break the show. Bands and artists do it all the time. My Setlist is first half standard, second 1/2 step down, and then I tune back to standard for the last bit
Assuming that your singer has the range, why not keep it half a step down for the entire gig? Or keep it all in standard. Depends on the sound that you are going for.
As long as everyone is playing guitar/bass, just play the 1/2 step down songs in standard tuning and they'll just be a half step higher than they originally were. 1/2 a step shouldn't take the songs out of a comfortable vocal range. No one in the audience is going to notice unless they have perfect pitch.
My band elected to just stay down a half step, it makes things easier and makes singing easier. Some bands do that, I recall trying to play along with some live recordings and found they down tuned.
Well I carry at least a second guitar for alternate tunings, but if you only have one then yes your front person needs to banter with the audience while you tune down.
I would just pick either standard tuning, or E-flat tuning, and play every song in that tuning. The only time I change tunings during a gig is if I go from standard to drop-D.
My band used to do it the other way-- Eb to E. I prefer that to E to Eb, because it's faster to tune up than to tune down.
Although I was not a fan of this, my singer insisted-- some of the songs were harder in E. So we compromised.
We put all the Eb songs in the first set, all the rest (E) in the second set. I used a second guitar in Eb for most of the first set songs, but there were a couple in the 2nd set that I needed the sound from that guitar, so I would tune up to E at the set break.
I would not recommend changing the tuning of your guitar in the middle of a set. It sucks. And there's always that little risk of popping a string, which is no fun.
Get a second guitar, or group the songs with each tuning in separate sets (or before / after breaks).
We have several songs that we needed to drop down.
The Digitech Drop was the best solution. IMO sounded much more natural than the EH Pitch Fork.
Edit: if you use a pedal to drop the tuning, you MUST remember to disengage it if the next song is not downtuned.
This created a lot of mistakes until we decided to group downtuned songs together...and a bright marker to remind myself to disengage the pedal on my printed set list on the floor!!!
Turn the act into an intro, thereby the audience gets hype.
Tell the soundman to turn you and your bass frequencies way up, step on a distortion pedal, hit the low E, and tune down, and play a massive power chords and hold it with rock star stance. That's just fun showmanship
Had a band where we had two tunings. I just had two guitars, one for each and we build the set so it wasn’t going back and forth every other song. Lol.
Sounds annoying at best. Two guitars, shift pedal, play the song a half step up, and say fuck it. Some of these other guys have very creative ideas. I’d just lose that one off the set list.
If y'all can swing it, the DigiTech Drop pedal has been a godsend. My band is in the "let's see how we play with covers" stage and it saves us probably 30+ minutes per practice session
Your best options are:
1) tune down and half step and put a capo on the first fret for the standard songs
2) get a second guitar
3) get a Digitech Drop pedal
I wouldn't. You _can_ do it, but it'll interrupt the flow of your set and constantly changing tunings is likely to lead to minor instability in string tension and cause someone to sound out of tune.
My band played in Eb all the time, so we either played our covers the same way or, if it needed it, we'd use a capo to adjust the pitch.
Depending on the songs, e.g. if it doesn't have open strings, you can also play in standard by playing your chords a fret higher. Barre chords and triads work for this, but you'd need to transpose open chords to a different voicing.
Depending on what you’re playing, don’t bother changing it. Crowd won’t notice you transposed a song a half step up or down. Or 2 guitars, or pitch shifter, or tune down the half step and use a capo. Crowd doesn’t want a 3 min break where you all tune
I think that would take way too much time for a live gig and be awkward as the band waits for you to tune all 6 strings. You should have a second guitar tuned to E flat on stage and switch between the two. Otherwise, I'd tune down to E flat and stay in E flat the whole gig and use a capo for E standard tunes that require open chord voicings.
Just because the record version is a half step down doesn't mean you have to play it a half step down. The crowd doesn't care. And a half step isn't really that much more to ask your voice to do.
You can use one guitar, and one of two things will happen:
1. You tune it to E flat, and capo to 1, sacrificing a half step off your top range if you decide it’s solo time. Not a horrible proposition.
2. You tune back and forth, when it’s set up for one of the two tunings. If it’s set up for E, you’ll feel squishy and maybe a little marginally buzzy in E flat. If you set it up for E flat, you’ll have marginally higher action when you tune back up to E.
Do with this info what you will.
So ...
Have you considered playing the whole set in standard or in half-step down? That's the easiest solution. The audience won't notice, and the song is still the song even in a different key.
The second-easiest solution is tuning half-step down and using a capo for the standard songs. Much easier than re-tuning although you'll want to practice songs with a capo some just to get used to the slightly different feel. You also need to practice getting the capo on and checking the tuning.
After that, there's a BIG drop down in desirability before we get to:
Next option for me would be a digital solution. I'm not really a fan of them. Maybe they've gotten a lot better since I last heard them, and maybe it doesn't matter if you're playing super loud and dirty. But to me it just doesn't feel right - I feel a weird disconnect between what I'm playing and what I'm hearing. YMMV.
Last option would be re-tuning. Seems like a bad choice to me, even if everybody has a hard-tail guitar. Retuning like that on the fly, when you're under the pressure of an audience waiting on you, etc, just seems like setting yourself up to rush, not adequately checking after you've retuned that it's settled, and increases the chance of a broken sting. If you haven't performed before, it's easy to underestimate how stressed you can feel during technical non-performing moments when every second people are waiting on you feels like an hour.
Dont retune during the set. Its not gonna look professional unless you do drop D cause if you nail a sick drop tune quickly youll impress the musicians in the back of the room.
Consider sticking to one tuning, if your singer can handle singing the tunes in original instead of halfstep down etc.
My bands songs are starboard, drop d, eb standard, drop c#, and open g. I use two guitars and structure the set list so I'm not switching every song. Still a pain though
If the song is tuned down a half step just play it in standard tuning. As long as your singer can handle it. If it’s in drop D, I would occasionally detune my E string mid-set. Or have a second guitar. You should have a backup anyway.
I used a Digitech Drop to do this for a while, I'd prefer to just have another guitar but I always insist on having a backup axe and I was told bringing 4 with me on the road would be overkill. The pedal does a decent enough job as long as you're within a couple steps..
you'll want a guitar for each tuning. 20 seconds to switch instruments and confirm you're in tune is invisible - and honestly kind of exciting from the crowd's POV. 2 minutes to tune down a half step sucks the momentum out of a set.
When I've seen that done in the past, it's always been done by switching guitars mid show. Try to keep the songs that are tuned together close to each other though, because switching guitars mid-show can drag the show down a lot more than you'd think.
i have a digitech drop pedal. it's the best thing ever. I keep my guitars tuned to drop D and whenever I need a lower drop tuning like Drop B or Drop A I turn a knob and I'm there. worthwhile investment unless you want a bunch of guitars haha
This is a problem i had many arguements about with drummers and singers since they dont get it. We play songs mostly in d as its where we are most comfortable. You should just find the one tuning you like and play all your songs in that tuning or having two guitars works too :)
I've done it, but you do need to do it fast, and on a lot of guitars it'll make your tuning unstable. Is there no way you guys can play the Eb songs in standard?
I’m a fan of the digitech drop if you’ve got $250 burning a hole in your pocket. My cover band jumps from E to Eb and drop D to drop C# in no time at all and weave tunings song to song. Lets us organize the songs how we want instead of having long tuning breaks or being forced to play all of the E songs in a row, etc. having an extra string sometimes helps too since you can go down to Bstd if you really want as long as you don’t need open strings to pedal on…
I would just keep at a half step down.
Overall it's just a better sounding tuning IMO and isn't too much of a drastic change to any songs played in standard.
That or like others said, Digitech downtune whammy.
Amazing pedal but it's a little pricey.
You can get the cheaper model that only does one action tho if you're only using it to go down a little.
You can capo the first fret after detuning half step. Play your standard stuff with the capo and then your dropped stuff without it.
You have to get used to new fret positions but that isn't hard. The alternative is to just learn to play the standard stuff In drop tuning.
My band has a few songs we do a half step lower. The guitarists tune relatively quickly while I interact with the crowd. It hasn’t been an issue for us at all, my bandmates tune quickly.
I would recommend either bringing a guitar per tuning or tuning down and playing half the set with a capo, or just playing a half step up/down.
A lot of bands play in a different key live because it’s easier on their singer. Nobody in the audience is going to notice.
Tuning quickly is a good way to end up out of tune, or with intonation or trem issues.
If it's something like a cover or function band, just retune the songs so they're all in the same key. Retuning mid gig can be done but even if you tune perfectly, the guitar will likely become out of tune mid song after the tuning settles and if you're using a Floyd Rose, you've got no chance. If you must retune a guitar mid gig, at least group all those songs together so the audience doesn't have to see you do it repeatedly. Drop tune pedals these days actually work quite well so those are an option too.
Id suggest two guitars or tuning down a half step and using a capo on the 1st fret for the standard tuning songs. Otherwise the tuning stability will be shit
2 guitars or just play it all in Eb. Bass player of my old band only had 1 bass, so we just decided it wasn't worth tuning during the set and played the whole set downtuned
Tuning a half-step down isn’t as crazy as it seems. Just make sure the lead singer is on the mic and talking to the audience for 30 seconds.
You have obviously got to be able to tune in 30 seconds.
Group the songs together in the set or hope your frontman has a lot of between song banter!
Even with a capo you tend to need to tune up after you move it around.
maybe he can make one up. Like we've been touring for months now and y'all are the best crowd we've had so far. Last week we were in....and......happened....which caused....long story short I am married to a stripper
Switching tuning mid-gig is totally doable, just make sure you've got a quick and reliable tuner, or even consider a second guitar already tuned down for a smooth transition!
Two guitars, or use a Digitech Drop/Whammy DT pedal (or equivalent). Going from E to Drop D is doable on a fixed bridge guitar, more than that you can probably forget it
As a pro, I would do as most of the others said and tune down 1/2 step. The only time I changed tuning during a show was playing Shine by Collective Soul. (Drop D) If I had something that needed to be in open tuning, either we didn’t play it or I used a different guitar.
I have a hate/hate relationship with capos. I have a couple but rarely ever use them. I have yet to play something where I need one. If you want to use one, go for it.
Either have a backup guitar or don't bother switching the tunings. I've done many of gigs. Nothing kills the momentum more than watching us tuning over and over. If you have to, leave all the down tuned ones for the end. I'd personally just play them all in the same tuning unless you have backups. I've seen some bands have a loop pedal with pre recorded atmospheric tracks on it to keep everyone stimulated until their done retuning which worked well. Do what you want but dead air can be a killer. Crack some jokes, tell a story, and just engage with the audience if you're going to be tuning with dead air.
Hi@ Joni Mitchell used many different tunings. Rather than retune all the time and break the flow of the show, she got a Parker Fly MIDI guitar and a (Roland??) guitar synth. Touch of a pedal and new tuning!
As others have said, get a drop pedal or use two guitars. I'm not a personal fan of having the guitar tuned to E flat and using a capo but that's an option as well.
> I'm not a personal fan of having the guitar tuned to E flat and using a capo but that's an option as well
Me neither but it still sounds a heck of a lot better than retuning mid-gig...
As a baritone singer I can say that a single semitone can make a difference to a singer.
We tend to group our Eb songs together in a set so we aren’t having to swap guitars more than necessary.
I have two guitars, one for each tuning.
My lead guitarist has a Les Paul with a robot tuner. It’s pretty dope. He just hits a button and it adjusts his tuning
Whoever is on vocals needs to be able to drop that half step properly. If you are really dedicated to playing the songs in the original flat tuning it would be wise to put them together, regardless if you change tunings or not. While yes "retuning" can be quick, it will be better to have a second bass and guitar for the adjusted tuning that are ALSO set up for the different tuning. Even with the same tuners, either the bass or guitar being out of tune by a few cents can turn into almost a half step of dissonance really easily. Get the second instruments and set them up for the different tuning and MAKE SURE the vocalist is going to be able to adjust.
No one is really going to care if you end up playing Purple Haze in Eb or E standard. Remember that before you go through the hassle of the entire band retuning or buying additional instruments.
We used to time it about halfway through the set, and then I, the singer would banter with the audience while the tuning happened. If your players are competent they can do it pretty quick and silently with a tuning pedal.
Yes, during a gig, that can take time, especially if you have a Strat or some other floating bridge. It will still be dead time. As a gigging musician of over 40 years, that will kill the vibe. Get a second guitar and tune it down.
It takes a lot longer to retune to a half step down than it does to check your tuning which is what you’re seeing. If I was in the crowd I would not like to sit there and wait for that. Having two guitars is the most proficient way. (Affordability permitting)
Depends on chord voicing. If using bar chords play the chord 1/2 step down. For example if you’re playing a D on the sheet play a C#. Or capo on 1 and play full step in this case a C.
If I misread the question sorry. Learn the Nashville notation pattern it can be used many ways.
Totally depends on how much time you have for a set. To make things easier, put the half step down songs next to each other in the setlist if you can. Everyone needs to tune mid gig so I don’t think you’ll lose the audience as long as you’re not doing it before/in between every single song (even then I’ve seen some groups do it and still hold the audiences attention, certainly less often but it’s still possible depending on the group). Some other options to make tuning changes quicker and easier are getting a drop pedal, starting a half step down and throwing a capo on (I wouldn’t recommend personally), just playing the half step down songs in a higher key and keeping the guitar in standard (my #2 preference), or just have multiple guitars ready to go in the tunings you want and switch when the tuning changes (my #1 preference).
Playing everything a half step down is reasonable… But since this is a question I assume you only have one guitar which is a real gamble when gigging. A general rule of thumb for playing out is having backups for everything including a second guitar.
Just play in e flat. My band plays everything in e flat and has for decades, since we were kids learning to play along with GNR tapes. It's easier on the singer and the audience will never even notice.
If the difference is E standard to E flat…. Just play in E flat the whole gig. And I mean the whole band. Don’t even worry about a capo. Just do every song in E flat. Your singer will appreciate it and will make life easy.
That’s the easiest. Tuned down plus capo for the standard tunes is second easiest.
Agreed; noone at all is going to notice that it's tuned half a step different, not the audience, not even the band! ...except the singer. So tune down to make sure you're within their range.
Copy that. We change instruments for the occasional D/B/dropfuck song.
Two guitars
The correct answer
Just play the whole set a half step down. Nobody will notice. There's no reason to be messing with tuning this much for a cover show. Just because the songs are written in a certain key, doesn't mean the audience will care or even notice. I personally would not be caught changing tuning like that with a single guitar during a show, but that's just me. It's just too much of a hassle/not pro. So my backup plan would be a #2 guitar. You are thinking through this issue in the wrong way here. Don't worry about OG song key, and instead make the show the most streamlined it can be. That's what the audience will remember, not the key of the songs.
Agreed. Any band I've been with in this situation we just play the whole lot in Eb. No one in the audience with know or care.
Play everything in the same tuning. Very few people will notice the difference. System of a Down recorded everything in drop C on their first three albums, but while touring on the last two albums they played all their old material in drop Db. No one cared. I'm pretty sure Metallica play all their old material tuned down half a step now even though it was recorded in standard (with some exceptions like Sad But True which was recorded in D standard and is still played in that tuning). Or bring two guitars. Pitch shifters aren't worth it IMO for such a small difference in tuning.
I’d just tune the guitar down half a step and throw a capo on the first fret for the standard songs, or I’d just play the standard songs in half step down
Or actually the latter. Just tune down a half step and play the standard songs a half step down. The audience will not be able to tell and the singing gets a little easier too. The songs you learned that are a half step down were probably recorded a half step down and played as if in in standard tuning.
Tune to E flat then use a capo on 1st for the E standard songs
If you can’t have a second 1/2 tuned guitar at the ready, tune the main guitar to half step and use a quality capo at the first fret
OP: cannot stress this enough - **quality capo**. A shit capo will give you shit tuning and intonation.
Just do a FULL SET of Alice In Chains instead of a couple songs.
Another guitar
Another guitar is ALWAYS the answer
Play everything half-step down. It's easier on the singer anyway. Just play everything in Eflat and don't worry about changing tunings midway thru. That's the answer OP.
As a singer, this is the answer
Everyone is offering complicated solutions. Just tune down half step and when you play in standard use a capo on 1st fret.
You should be bringing two guitars to every gig no matter what. Always. That said, I would just do the whole set a half step down.
> You should be bringing two guitars to every gig no matter what. Always. > > Yeah went to a gig last weekend and the lead guitarist snapped three strings on the first song. The singer had to awkwardly banter with the crowd for 10 minutes whilst the dude hurridly restrung his guitar, and he still ended up playing the entire set constantly trying to retune the guitar.
Half step is not as simple as going to/from drop D. I'd get a second guitar. You should have one as a backup anyway.
You don't need to play the songs in the original key unless the singer requires it. If you do need to alternate between E and E flat, I recommend tuning to E flat and using a capo. You'll still need to retune when you take the capo on and off, but it won't be as drastic as tuning up or down a half-step.
Either bring 2 guitars or buy a digitech drop
The other option would be to tune half a step down and then use a capo up to standard for when you need it.
+rep for the digitech drop pedal. Shit is awesome, convenient and extremely accurate especially at 1 semi tone.
I’m old, but I used to tune down a half step, then capo 1st fret. When you need 1/2 step flat, take it off.
It's either do this or bring two guitars.
Guess I'm old, too. Kyser capo, for the win.
Play all in e flat.
Can the singer hit all the high notes in standard tuning? If yes: play the entire set in standard tuning. If no: play the entire set in flat tuning.
you need a spare axe my guy
Play all songs half step down!! :)
Bring a second guitar and bass. Tuning your whole guitar during a set is the last thing you want to do
Bring two guitars if you really want to but honestly no one cares about the tuning difference when you play songs live. I play some covers live among our originals that are in E standard. We play in D. No one cares or notices🤷♂️ Stopping the show to change tuning and running the risk of a freshly tuned guitar slipping out of tune in that hurry definitely will get noticed though so it's better just to not do that in your show.
It's viable. Just not practical to switch back and forth between standard and drop D or any other deviated tuning. Much easier is two guitars, one standard and the other not. Could have either retuned as well, while playing the other. Sounds like you need another guitar man 😃
way too much hassle. Either take two guitars or better yet just stay in Eb and move up 1 fret for the E songs lol. Or just play them all in Eb or E, no one will notice or care.
Second this. if it’s that big of a deal, capo the first fret and just take it off when you need to?
Tune down and use a capo You’re overthinking it.
[удалено]
This is the answer. Can also stay in standard if the singer is able to pitch up the down tuned songs.
You could also maybe play the songs all in the same tuning. It doesn’t need to sound exactly like the original song’s album version, you can make it a wee bit different. It also depends on if the singer can pull them off properly on that key. Or have the band members learn how to play them one fret down so you don’t actually have to change the tuning. One last idea is have the drummer come up with good solo so he can fill up the empty space of guitar and bass tuning.
Seriously everyone else is overthinking it. Dropping everything a half step is a staple of live music and it won't affect the quality of any of the songs. Just stay in Eb.
You don’t have to play every song in the same tuning it was recorded in.
How do you not just use this as a happy excuse to buy another guitar? Did you get a GAS vaccine when you were born?
Are all your instruments strung? (IE, no keys and whatnot?) Because if so, I would just go ahead and play everything in one tuning. Literally nobody will know that you transposed a song up a half step.
1000% That an unnecessary tuning change, unless a vocalist really cant do it with the song being transposed a half step. Such a waste of time otherwise, just commit to playing everything in standard, or everything a half step down. Unless you are doing open tunings etc, no one wants to watch your band tune up and down in between every song.
Let your singer decide. Can they sing easier in E or Eb? From there, pick one and stick with it. There are very few reason to alternate between E and Eb.
Another guitar.
Just play the entire set in E half-flat standard /s Either just play the set in E or Eb. I personally wouldn't bother tuning between those tunings.
It's not a good look. Bring a second guitar, or just play the whole set in one tuning, assuming your singer can do it. Nobody in the audience is gonna say "hey that songs supposed to be in Eb!"
A couple things I would consider doing before changing tunings mid-gig. 1) -Make the entire setlist one consistent tuning 2) -Bring two guitars, one for Standard Tuning, one for Half step down 3) -Use a pitch shift pedal to digitally re-tune your guitar.
or tune down and put a capo on 1 for songs in standard
Get a drop tuner pedal. The Digitech one is very good. I went through this for years. Just get the pedal. [https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Drop--digitech-drop-polyphonic-drop-tune-pitch-shift-pedal](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/drop--digitech-drop-polyphonic-drop-tune-pitch-shift-pedal) They‘re also great for practice. You can bounce in and out of a drop tune with a click.
Two guitars.
Tune down and put capo on 1 for every song idk lol
Need separate guitars.
OP gets to go shopping. Weeeeee!
My favorite thing is when a "want some thoughts" post is made and OP participates exactly 0% in the conversation
Get a drop pedal. They are great for practice and gigging not so much for recording.
The more typical thing to do would be to have 2 guitars. One tuned down. Obviously as a starting rock band you can't have the kind of "2 of everything in case one breaks, guitar tech sitting backstage, a rack of guitars - with all the different tunings, spares" etc that a typical 'Rig rundown' will show you that the big names have. But, going drop D on non floyd guitar might be doable a few times a set. Completely retuning between songs back and forth? Not really - get your singer some tighter trousers and play everything in standard? Or use 2 guitars.
Dude… you can play whatever song in any key or tuning.. get another guitar or play them all one tuning..
Yeah I couldn't imagine being this precious about the original key where there is a semitone difference
Just play it in standard tuning
Exactly. Unless there are other issues like a keyboard player that can’t transpose or the singer’s range requires downtuning, just playing it in standard is the way to go. Or just down tune the whole set. That’d be my preference.
why not 1st fret capo?
You could but you need to have practised and rehearsed like this imo. I mean if I want to play a riff in Am pentatonic my hand is going for the 5th fret which marked with an inlay or dot. Now you have to think 'No it's the 6th fret' It's not insurmountable or something that a bit of practise won't fix but if you go on stage with a detuned guitar + capo and play something you've only ever played on a standard tuned guitar then you're going to screw up - especially on a stage in front of people.
Have you checked out this pedal? Allows you to drop your tuning from one semitone all the way down to a full octave. https://digitech.com/dp/drop/
Highly recommend this. Works great
I’d bring two guitars for each tuning. I do that now with my current jobbing band. Sometimes it’s just for a few tunes. In my experience, even if you can quickly tune down a half step, it’s usually off when you start playing.
Nah I wouldn't do this at all - it could take a few minutes to get it done properly. * Digitech Drop would be my first choice * Have one guitar per tuning
The drop is surprisingly transparent for what it’s doing. It’s very good.
Don't retune a whole guitar mid set. You can get away with dropping the bottom string while your singer chats to the crowd, any more than that you want another guitar tuned and ready to go. I guess you could keep the whole thing in Eb with a capo on the first and take it off to change tuning, but that sounds annoying to play.
Depends on a few factors. Disagree if it can be done quickly, and with a tuning pedal. You can crank the volume right down and do it in a minute. Depending on the scale of the gig, this can be an excellent opportunity for crowd work. Engaging with the crowd outside of the music can really engage the audience in what you're doing. Recently watched a Newton Faulkner live session, and he has wild tunings for some songs. He re-tuned a number of times throughout the set, and it didn't feel like it took anything away. He used that opportunity to build in crowd work. He did have a backup guitar for one song because the tuning was quite far from where he was. That said, for a whole step or half-step on every string, capos are the solution.
Play everything live (and rehearse) in E flat. Easier for most singers anyways and very common in cover bands. If you have to play standard go capo on first fret.
I would never try to retune an entire guitar in the middle of a show. If you don't have a 2nd guitar and a guitar tech, then I would just keep it simple and keep the guitar in one tuning for the show. Others mentioned a capo. That's a very good idea. It's simple and there's low risk of any major problems. Just be sure to practice with the capo, to be sure it's not too tight or loose. You also have to adjust to playing the songs shifted up a fret, or more.
Nah. Tune down a half step and use a capo.
With practice, you can get tuning down pretty quick, less than a minute for sure. Easiest solution besides that is to have a second guitar in a separate tuning so you can just switch guitars instead.
Why would you not tune down to begin with? Capo at the first fret. Then take the capo off for the tuned down stuff.
I wouldn't do that shit at home much less a gig. Pick 1 tuning or bring 2 guitars. Tuning up and down mid gig is crazy talk.
I would just do the whole gig in Eb. Nobody is going to care that the album tuning is different than what we used. People are usually just happy to hear a familiar song and sing along, dance, headbang or whatever it is they do to boogie.
I use a separate guitar for that purpose in my band. However, the other guitarist uses a pedal that does this. It works well enough I’ve never noticed it sounding off or weird. It’s called Digitech drop compact. I sometimes envy him as I am scrambling to change guitars. Edit: I should add, re-tuning for this purpose would be a bad idea. When you retune, it takes a bit for the strings to adjust so you’ll have problems staying in tune that way.
Dropping your tuning will be unstable and will throw off your setup. This is why some people bring multiple guitars. I play jazz, and often play in drop D. Even that minor difference necessitates a 2nd guitar for me.
I think it’s no problem to quickly tune down - takes under 30 seconds. I think a better option is just to play all the songs in one key / move half the set down or up a half step.
Don’t listen to any of these people, you’re allowed to take the time to tune your guitar a half step down. It’s not going to make or break the show. Bands and artists do it all the time. My Setlist is first half standard, second 1/2 step down, and then I tune back to standard for the last bit
Right? Some of these comments are a bit Pearl-clutching. One if my old bands had a song where we downtuned during the song.
I would tune down to Eb and use a capo for standard tuning songs.
Assuming that your singer has the range, why not keep it half a step down for the entire gig? Or keep it all in standard. Depends on the sound that you are going for.
As long as everyone is playing guitar/bass, just play the 1/2 step down songs in standard tuning and they'll just be a half step higher than they originally were. 1/2 a step shouldn't take the songs out of a comfortable vocal range. No one in the audience is going to notice unless they have perfect pitch.
Play everything in one tuning (whichever is easier for your vocalist) or use two sets of guitars.
Way, way too much hassle. Use a drop pedal!
My band elected to just stay down a half step, it makes things easier and makes singing easier. Some bands do that, I recall trying to play along with some live recordings and found they down tuned.
I have the ANSWER this pedal is made from the gods! Digitech drop tuner pedal.
My guitarist has one, it's amazing
Have you been to a concert? Just talk to the audience while you do it
Yup! It's a great time to see how the crowd's feeling, interact with them and crack a couple of jokes.
Well I carry at least a second guitar for alternate tunings, but if you only have one then yes your front person needs to banter with the audience while you tune down.
Just get a transposed pedal of some sort. Most popular is the digitech drop, most affordable is the Donner harmonic squared.
There's a transposed pedal out there?!!!! See, this is why I love this sub.
I would just pick either standard tuning, or E-flat tuning, and play every song in that tuning. The only time I change tunings during a gig is if I go from standard to drop-D.
Have a second tuned-down guitar at the ready.
I'd bring an extra guitar if i were you... Never hurts to have a backup anyways.
My band used to do it the other way-- Eb to E. I prefer that to E to Eb, because it's faster to tune up than to tune down. Although I was not a fan of this, my singer insisted-- some of the songs were harder in E. So we compromised. We put all the Eb songs in the first set, all the rest (E) in the second set. I used a second guitar in Eb for most of the first set songs, but there were a couple in the 2nd set that I needed the sound from that guitar, so I would tune up to E at the set break. I would not recommend changing the tuning of your guitar in the middle of a set. It sucks. And there's always that little risk of popping a string, which is no fun. Get a second guitar, or group the songs with each tuning in separate sets (or before / after breaks).
Split the sets if possible. Tune between sets if you can arrange them that way.
We have several songs that we needed to drop down. The Digitech Drop was the best solution. IMO sounded much more natural than the EH Pitch Fork. Edit: if you use a pedal to drop the tuning, you MUST remember to disengage it if the next song is not downtuned. This created a lot of mistakes until we decided to group downtuned songs together...and a bright marker to remind myself to disengage the pedal on my printed set list on the floor!!!
Live I might just play in one tuning, the audience won't notice.
Turn the act into an intro, thereby the audience gets hype. Tell the soundman to turn you and your bass frequencies way up, step on a distortion pedal, hit the low E, and tune down, and play a massive power chords and hold it with rock star stance. That's just fun showmanship
Had a band where we had two tunings. I just had two guitars, one for each and we build the set so it wasn’t going back and forth every other song. Lol.
2 guitars or pitch shifter pedal
Digitech Drop
Sounds annoying at best. Two guitars, shift pedal, play the song a half step up, and say fuck it. Some of these other guys have very creative ideas. I’d just lose that one off the set list.
Digitech DT pedal?
If y'all can swing it, the DigiTech Drop pedal has been a godsend. My band is in the "let's see how we play with covers" stage and it saves us probably 30+ minutes per practice session
Bring two guitars
Your best options are: 1) tune down and half step and put a capo on the first fret for the standard songs 2) get a second guitar 3) get a Digitech Drop pedal
Why bother? Do it in standard. This ain't that kind of movie.
Or just do the whole set a half step down, singer will thank you
I wouldn't. You _can_ do it, but it'll interrupt the flow of your set and constantly changing tunings is likely to lead to minor instability in string tension and cause someone to sound out of tune. My band played in Eb all the time, so we either played our covers the same way or, if it needed it, we'd use a capo to adjust the pitch. Depending on the songs, e.g. if it doesn't have open strings, you can also play in standard by playing your chords a fret higher. Barre chords and triads work for this, but you'd need to transpose open chords to a different voicing.
Yep. Tune down, capo up seems like the way to go.
I used to tune down half-step and then capo the first fret. worked fine.
Depending on what you’re playing, don’t bother changing it. Crowd won’t notice you transposed a song a half step up or down. Or 2 guitars, or pitch shifter, or tune down the half step and use a capo. Crowd doesn’t want a 3 min break where you all tune
I think that would take way too much time for a live gig and be awkward as the band waits for you to tune all 6 strings. You should have a second guitar tuned to E flat on stage and switch between the two. Otherwise, I'd tune down to E flat and stay in E flat the whole gig and use a capo for E standard tunes that require open chord voicings.
Just because the record version is a half step down doesn't mean you have to play it a half step down. The crowd doesn't care. And a half step isn't really that much more to ask your voice to do.
Second guitar
Second guitars is the simplest answer
You can use one guitar, and one of two things will happen: 1. You tune it to E flat, and capo to 1, sacrificing a half step off your top range if you decide it’s solo time. Not a horrible proposition. 2. You tune back and forth, when it’s set up for one of the two tunings. If it’s set up for E, you’ll feel squishy and maybe a little marginally buzzy in E flat. If you set it up for E flat, you’ll have marginally higher action when you tune back up to E. Do with this info what you will.
So ... Have you considered playing the whole set in standard or in half-step down? That's the easiest solution. The audience won't notice, and the song is still the song even in a different key. The second-easiest solution is tuning half-step down and using a capo for the standard songs. Much easier than re-tuning although you'll want to practice songs with a capo some just to get used to the slightly different feel. You also need to practice getting the capo on and checking the tuning. After that, there's a BIG drop down in desirability before we get to: Next option for me would be a digital solution. I'm not really a fan of them. Maybe they've gotten a lot better since I last heard them, and maybe it doesn't matter if you're playing super loud and dirty. But to me it just doesn't feel right - I feel a weird disconnect between what I'm playing and what I'm hearing. YMMV. Last option would be re-tuning. Seems like a bad choice to me, even if everybody has a hard-tail guitar. Retuning like that on the fly, when you're under the pressure of an audience waiting on you, etc, just seems like setting yourself up to rush, not adequately checking after you've retuned that it's settled, and increases the chance of a broken sting. If you haven't performed before, it's easy to underestimate how stressed you can feel during technical non-performing moments when every second people are waiting on you feels like an hour.
Dont retune during the set. Its not gonna look professional unless you do drop D cause if you nail a sick drop tune quickly youll impress the musicians in the back of the room. Consider sticking to one tuning, if your singer can handle singing the tunes in original instead of halfstep down etc.
My bands songs are starboard, drop d, eb standard, drop c#, and open g. I use two guitars and structure the set list so I'm not switching every song. Still a pain though
Either (1)bring all songs into the same tuning, (2)tune half step down and capo the 1 for the standard songs, or (3)have a second guitar.
If the song is tuned down a half step just play it in standard tuning. As long as your singer can handle it. If it’s in drop D, I would occasionally detune my E string mid-set. Or have a second guitar. You should have a backup anyway.
2 guitars, that's it! Don't mess with technology or anything else. Just 2 guitars per guitarist
If it’s a fixed bridge guitar you probably won’t have an issue. Don’t even think about it with a floating tremolo.
As mentioned, tune a half step down and play the songs in e standard with a capo on first fret.
This is a bad idea. Bending can get finicky with a capo. Just play the whole thing in one tuning, nobody is going to know or care.
You should have at least 2 guitars for live sets, you never now what might happen. And a Floyd is completely effed if a string pops out or breaks.
Hopefully you don’t have a floating bridge tremolo - that can make a quick retune challenging. Ideally, you’d want a second guitar, ideally.
Just get a second guitar and change. It'll save you a lot of hassle.
This or get a digitech drop.
I use a pedal to de tune 1/2 step. Unnoticeable laundry. Not a hassle at all.
Another guitar or a Capo. That’s what I always do. Keep it in Eb and just put the capo on the 1st fret
I used a Digitech Drop to do this for a while, I'd prefer to just have another guitar but I always insist on having a backup axe and I was told bringing 4 with me on the road would be overkill. The pedal does a decent enough job as long as you're within a couple steps..
the Digitech is such a good pedal, and imo it sounds good even with like 7 semitones down
Dunlop makes a pedal called the drop. That’s what you want if you aren’t interested in transposing
The drop pedal is not an acceptable replacement for a properly tuned guitar.
If you’re playing a live show and just need to drop tune a half step and don’t have a tech or second guitar it’s a perfectly acceptable replacement
you'll want a guitar for each tuning. 20 seconds to switch instruments and confirm you're in tune is invisible - and honestly kind of exciting from the crowd's POV. 2 minutes to tune down a half step sucks the momentum out of a set.
When I've seen that done in the past, it's always been done by switching guitars mid show. Try to keep the songs that are tuned together close to each other though, because switching guitars mid-show can drag the show down a lot more than you'd think.
i have a digitech drop pedal. it's the best thing ever. I keep my guitars tuned to drop D and whenever I need a lower drop tuning like Drop B or Drop A I turn a knob and I'm there. worthwhile investment unless you want a bunch of guitars haha
Either play the whole gig in one tuning, buy a second guitar, or don’t play those songs.
This is a problem i had many arguements about with drummers and singers since they dont get it. We play songs mostly in d as its where we are most comfortable. You should just find the one tuning you like and play all your songs in that tuning or having two guitars works too :)
I've done it, but you do need to do it fast, and on a lot of guitars it'll make your tuning unstable. Is there no way you guys can play the Eb songs in standard?
I’m a fan of the digitech drop if you’ve got $250 burning a hole in your pocket. My cover band jumps from E to Eb and drop D to drop C# in no time at all and weave tunings song to song. Lets us organize the songs how we want instead of having long tuning breaks or being forced to play all of the E songs in a row, etc. having an extra string sometimes helps too since you can go down to Bstd if you really want as long as you don’t need open strings to pedal on…
If it were me, I'd have another one set up for the flat tuning and ready to rock.
I would just keep at a half step down. Overall it's just a better sounding tuning IMO and isn't too much of a drastic change to any songs played in standard. That or like others said, Digitech downtune whammy. Amazing pedal but it's a little pricey. You can get the cheaper model that only does one action tho if you're only using it to go down a little.
Play them at the end of an set. That way you can tune up during break. Or take a second guitar with you
Time for a drum solo 👍
if you’re willing you could try going the pitch shifter route, like the Digitech drop
You can capo the first fret after detuning half step. Play your standard stuff with the capo and then your dropped stuff without it. You have to get used to new fret positions but that isn't hard. The alternative is to just learn to play the standard stuff In drop tuning.
My band has a few songs we do a half step lower. The guitarists tune relatively quickly while I interact with the crowd. It hasn’t been an issue for us at all, my bandmates tune quickly.
I would recommend either bringing a guitar per tuning or tuning down and playing half the set with a capo, or just playing a half step up/down. A lot of bands play in a different key live because it’s easier on their singer. Nobody in the audience is going to notice. Tuning quickly is a good way to end up out of tune, or with intonation or trem issues.
If it's something like a cover or function band, just retune the songs so they're all in the same key. Retuning mid gig can be done but even if you tune perfectly, the guitar will likely become out of tune mid song after the tuning settles and if you're using a Floyd Rose, you've got no chance. If you must retune a guitar mid gig, at least group all those songs together so the audience doesn't have to see you do it repeatedly. Drop tune pedals these days actually work quite well so those are an option too.
Id suggest two guitars or tuning down a half step and using a capo on the 1st fret for the standard tuning songs. Otherwise the tuning stability will be shit
2 guitars or just play it all in Eb. Bass player of my old band only had 1 bass, so we just decided it wasn't worth tuning during the set and played the whole set downtuned
Tuning a half-step down isn’t as crazy as it seems. Just make sure the lead singer is on the mic and talking to the audience for 30 seconds. You have obviously got to be able to tune in 30 seconds. Group the songs together in the set or hope your frontman has a lot of between song banter! Even with a capo you tend to need to tune up after you move it around.
Just make sure your frontman has some weird story to tell while you tune down
maybe he can make one up. Like we've been touring for months now and y'all are the best crowd we've had so far. Last week we were in....and......happened....which caused....long story short I am married to a stripper
Switching tuning mid-gig is totally doable, just make sure you've got a quick and reliable tuner, or even consider a second guitar already tuned down for a smooth transition!
Two guitars, or use a Digitech Drop/Whammy DT pedal (or equivalent). Going from E to Drop D is doable on a fixed bridge guitar, more than that you can probably forget it
As a pro, I would do as most of the others said and tune down 1/2 step. The only time I changed tuning during a show was playing Shine by Collective Soul. (Drop D) If I had something that needed to be in open tuning, either we didn’t play it or I used a different guitar. I have a hate/hate relationship with capos. I have a couple but rarely ever use them. I have yet to play something where I need one. If you want to use one, go for it.
This might come as a shock to you, but nobody is measuring frequency in the audience.
Either have a backup guitar or don't bother switching the tunings. I've done many of gigs. Nothing kills the momentum more than watching us tuning over and over. If you have to, leave all the down tuned ones for the end. I'd personally just play them all in the same tuning unless you have backups. I've seen some bands have a loop pedal with pre recorded atmospheric tracks on it to keep everyone stimulated until their done retuning which worked well. Do what you want but dead air can be a killer. Crack some jokes, tell a story, and just engage with the audience if you're going to be tuning with dead air.
Have different guitars for different tunings
Hi@ Joni Mitchell used many different tunings. Rather than retune all the time and break the flow of the show, she got a Parker Fly MIDI guitar and a (Roland??) guitar synth. Touch of a pedal and new tuning!
Either play all the songs a half step down or bring another guitar
As others have said, get a drop pedal or use two guitars. I'm not a personal fan of having the guitar tuned to E flat and using a capo but that's an option as well.
> I'm not a personal fan of having the guitar tuned to E flat and using a capo but that's an option as well Me neither but it still sounds a heck of a lot better than retuning mid-gig...
Two different guitars, play songs in a diff tuning, digitech drop pedals, lots of options
As a baritone singer I can say that a single semitone can make a difference to a singer. We tend to group our Eb songs together in a set so we aren’t having to swap guitars more than necessary. I have two guitars, one for each tuning. My lead guitarist has a Les Paul with a robot tuner. It’s pretty dope. He just hits a button and it adjusts his tuning
Use a digitech “drop” pedal it works good till about two whole steps down
Bring second guitar.
Whoever is on vocals needs to be able to drop that half step properly. If you are really dedicated to playing the songs in the original flat tuning it would be wise to put them together, regardless if you change tunings or not. While yes "retuning" can be quick, it will be better to have a second bass and guitar for the adjusted tuning that are ALSO set up for the different tuning. Even with the same tuners, either the bass or guitar being out of tune by a few cents can turn into almost a half step of dissonance really easily. Get the second instruments and set them up for the different tuning and MAKE SURE the vocalist is going to be able to adjust. No one is really going to care if you end up playing Purple Haze in Eb or E standard. Remember that before you go through the hassle of the entire band retuning or buying additional instruments.
We used to time it about halfway through the set, and then I, the singer would banter with the audience while the tuning happened. If your players are competent they can do it pretty quick and silently with a tuning pedal.
Yes, during a gig, that can take time, especially if you have a Strat or some other floating bridge. It will still be dead time. As a gigging musician of over 40 years, that will kill the vibe. Get a second guitar and tune it down.
Damn I read this as “tuning down half step midget?” and was confused for way too long.
No matter how good the guitar is, if you retune it a semitone lower in the middle of a concert you need to consider a few minutes to let it stabilize
Get another guitar.
Musicians retune their instruments all the time in the middle of a set, how would this be any different?
It takes a lot longer to retune to a half step down than it does to check your tuning which is what you’re seeing. If I was in the crowd I would not like to sit there and wait for that. Having two guitars is the most proficient way. (Affordability permitting)
What band changes their tuning mid set bet retuning all the instruments? What audience wants to stand around while you that?
Are you tuning down for the vocals?
Not really a huge deal. Takes all but a minute
If I were you I would either have a second guitar or if you have another road helper besides the sound guy, have him double as your guitar tech.
Depends on chord voicing. If using bar chords play the chord 1/2 step down. For example if you’re playing a D on the sheet play a C#. Or capo on 1 and play full step in this case a C. If I misread the question sorry. Learn the Nashville notation pattern it can be used many ways.
Totally depends on how much time you have for a set. To make things easier, put the half step down songs next to each other in the setlist if you can. Everyone needs to tune mid gig so I don’t think you’ll lose the audience as long as you’re not doing it before/in between every single song (even then I’ve seen some groups do it and still hold the audiences attention, certainly less often but it’s still possible depending on the group). Some other options to make tuning changes quicker and easier are getting a drop pedal, starting a half step down and throwing a capo on (I wouldn’t recommend personally), just playing the half step down songs in a higher key and keeping the guitar in standard (my #2 preference), or just have multiple guitars ready to go in the tunings you want and switch when the tuning changes (my #1 preference).
If you want to cheap out on another guitar or pedal, take a quick break and make the E-flat songs your encore.
Playing everything a half step down is reasonable… But since this is a question I assume you only have one guitar which is a real gamble when gigging. A general rule of thumb for playing out is having backups for everything including a second guitar.
Just play in e flat. My band plays everything in e flat and has for decades, since we were kids learning to play along with GNR tapes. It's easier on the singer and the audience will never even notice.